Unexpected (24 page)

He began a slow tortuous rhythm that had her come close to weeping.  It was wild, raw and beautiful all at the same time.
The sounds around her seemed to disappear—the pouring rain, the heavy breathing of the horses, and the cool air of the cave.  It was as if they were floating in air. She didn’t want this to end—ever.  Her body had other designs.

Soon the burning pleasure grew
consuming every inch of her. As if sensing this, he shifted and changed his rhythm.  With it brought shards of twisting ecstasy.  Her moans changed to soft feminine cries muffled by the noise of the pounding rain.  Her fingers twisted hard in his hair. 

He groaned at the pleasurable pain that created.  It wasn’t just that.  She was able to take all of him in one smooth movement. Yet, she was slick with des
ire and it helped his entry. He wasn’t a small man and she was tight.  When she enveloped him, he thought the universe exploded around him.  He felt the pulse through his entire body.

“Don’t stop,” she heard herself cry out.

He didn’t.  He sat back on his heels pulling her with him onto his lap without breaking contact.  His arm wrapped around the small of her back as he guided her against him.  There was no detectable break in rhythm either.  He was strong and she was small compared to him, which made her easy to physically control. He moved her against him with little effort until instinct took over.  Her head fell back and Cogan bent his head taking one of her perfect erect nipples in his hot mouth.

“I’m dying—” she groaned while twisting her fingers tighter in his thick hair.  Then she felt it.  Out of the white hot tumultuous pleasure came something sharper, something deeper. 

Cogan leaned back placing a hand behind him for support and the other moved down to her bottom cupping the perfectly formed curve in his large hand guiding her movements and rhythm.  He was perspiring now, and like her, felt the building climax.  Her hands flattened on his hard abdomen to help her movements.

It wasn’t always like this for him. 
In fact never.  He would take his time and pleasure the woman first, then after she had climaxed, he would take her, but not Josie.  She was full of unbridled fire and met his appetite equally.  When he came, it was cataclysmic. He felt his whole body tense, then tremble in release as he spilled into her.

Josie
finally met his eyes.  Her sapphire gaze almost black with desire.  Her beautiful full lips were parted in a silent gasp as she reached her peak.  Then she released an unbelievable sound of pure feminine pleasure closing her eyes to savor it.  Her pelvis throbbed and ebbed.  Her body trembled.  Her heart pounded hard in her ears.  Then she felt Cogan’s mouth, hard, on hers, tasting every tortuous wave that washed through her, and giving her his, with a deep throaty groan of satisfaction.

He kissed her deeply
for a long while savoring every inch of her. His thick arms wrapped around her holding her tight to his body.  They were damp from perspiration. The rain had long since evaporated except from their hair.  Josephine’s wet auburn strands cascaded town her back displaying a slight curl.  He was certain he hadn’t seen any woman more bewitching than her.

Tears escaped her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

He lifted his head seeing the wetness.  His thumb wiped them away tenderly. “Did I hurt you?”

She smiled slightly and shook her head.

“What is it then?”

“I just never—I never thought it could be that beautiful.”

“Well, we have an advantage.”

“What’s that?”

“You love me.  It makes a difference.”

Now she was really weeping.

Cogan never said anything else but lay down on his back keeping her with him.  He pulled his coat back on top of her to keep her warm. 

He probably didn’t need to do that. She doubted she would ever be cold again.
“Am I that obvious about my feelings?”

He chuckled.  It vibrated in his chest against her cheek.  “Am I?”

She smiled and shut her eyes against the sound of his heart. “What do we do now?”

“We get married.”

She lifted her head and looked at him.

“For real Josephine.
I won’t have it annulled for any reason.  You belong to me now.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure in my life.”

Her eyes started leaking again and she lifted herself up further to kiss him.

He threaded his large hand in her hair, cupped her head, and kissed her back.

***

When she woke the next morning, Cogan was completely dressed and just finishing belting his trousers. Daylight was streaming into the cave. She blushed remembering her behavior the night before.  It seemed so magical at the time. Her eyes met his.

He gave her a very handsome smile
filled with newly discovered secrets.  His eyes steady on hers. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of Josephine. That was an epic night I will never forget.”

Oh God, she could just die from the way her face flamed.
“Everything seems different now.”  She shouldn’t have been surprised that he knew what she was thinking.  It was occurring more and more to her that he understood her very well.

“It always does, but my feelings haven’t changed.”

Her heart leapt in her chest and a feeling of joy flooded through her.  She smiled back at him. 

Keeping his eyes on hers, h
e indicated with a nod of his head to Ryker’s horse who was now standing behind him.  His head was hung showing his fatigue, but it was a good sign.

“Oh thank the lord
!”

“He should be back to his old self in a few days. 
Nothing that a good pampering can’t cure.”

“I’m so indebted to you Cogan.”

“I think I can come up with a method of payment.”

There went the heat in her cheeks again.

He chuckled deeply. “I’m going to give the boys a moment on some field grass while you get dressed.  I’ll just be down the slope.”

“Thank you.” 
She knew he was doing this to give her privacy. 

She watched Cogan leave
with the two horses following him obediently as lap dogs. Then she threw back the blanket and his duster and got up. 

She was bold in ways that others of her gender weren’t. 
Although she certainly wasn’t shy the night before, she was now.  She knew she was headstrong and different from most women her age.  Well, she had to be.  She grew up sandwiched between two brothers, raised by an ex-soldier, with the absence of a tender loving mother.  Hattie did her best, but she never interfered with Josie’s life.  She was also busy helping raise Thomas.  He was a handful.

Mos
t of the women her age could also be offended by her, but others admired her courage.  Unlike the latter, she honestly didn’t care what people thought of her except those she loved. Maybe she should act more like a lady, but really, would it matter in this country? Being proper and ladylike certainly didn’t help her family or her ranch.  Also, it wasn’t that she had a lack of suitors, not that she’d fall for any of them.  She didn’t believe in traditional courtship either with their shallow promises and gifts that never appealed to her. She wanted someone to love her for who she was, not what they expected from her.  She wanted to be loved by a man who respected her choices and not try and make her something she wasn’t.  Someone like Cogan.  He never asked anything of her.  He also never judged her.  Even if he never said anything, his eyes were honest.  She was infatuated with him.

Well, that was probably obvious with the way she was the night before.
  Her face heated up again. 

She checked her clothing.  Dry to damp mud caked everything.  It was completely uncomfortable wearing clothes like that, but she had to get back home before her brother realized what she’d done. Her boots were still soaked, but she put them on anyway.

She made her way out of the cave, thankfully the rain had stopped.  She didn’t know when because she slept like a rock. In fact, she was sure it had been a few years since she slept so sound, but that warm body under her probably had a lot to do with it.

She scanned the land and saw that
the river was fast running now.  She could see it from where she stood. Cogan about twenty yards to her left down the embankment.  He was sitting on a large rock while the two horses grazed on the grass below him. She nudged her hair off her face with her fingertips as she stared at his broad back.  He was quite a magnificent specimen of a man; powerfully built, perfectly formed, and strong. But it wasn’t just that. Even from the distance he radiated authority, wisdom and humility. Excluding her older brother, she’d only met men with one of those traits, or none at all, but Cogan was all of them.

He
finally turned feeling her eyes on him.  Getting to his feet, he made his way up the hill toward her. The hillside was muddy and slippery.  She’d need help getting down to the horses.

She looked down at her mud caked riding skirt. “I’m a mess.”
  She could only imagine what the rest of her looked like.  Her hair was dry now but she felt bits of mud in it when she brushed it off her face to look at him a moment ago.

He chuckled
and took her hand leading her down the hillside, “Well, we’ll get you home as quick as we can.”  He turned and whistled and his stallion lifted his head and trotted toward them.

“
I never asked. What is his name?”

“Boy.”

She laughed. “Really?”

“I’m not very imaginative.”

Well, she could have actually said something to that, but the blush she felt hitting her cheeks again spoke volumes.

He grinned and helped her into the saddle
as if she weighed nothing.  Then he swung up behind her.  “We’ll be taking the long way home.  The river has washed out everything.”

“What about your things?”

“I can get them later.  Let’s get you home first.”  He nudged his horse into a trot and whistled for the bay.  The other horse lifted his head from his meal and caught up to them.

***

Josie’s heart was light, and even facing her brother wouldn’t change that, but as soon as they hit the rise above the ranch, she felt her heart die.

The bay nickered and galloped by them, down the hill to home, trotting by the burned smoldering remains of her house toward the barn that was still standing
, glad to be home.

The sight below was horrific
. A strangled cry left her lips.

“Don’t panic yet.  We need to find out if anyone is alive,”
came Cogan’s deep calm voice from behind her.

Another
sound of grief came from Josie’s throat. She wasn’t able to hold it in.  She tried, she really did. Cogan moved his arm around her midsection and pulled her back against his chest. It was probably a blessing.  She was close to fainting.

He urged his horse into a trot toward the pile of smoking embers.

Once inside the yard he dismounted and helped her down.  She was trembling in his arms.

“Do you think—
Oh God, Thomas!”

“I’m not going to think anything.  Ryker is a smart man.  He would have gotten everyone out alive.” Well, he sure as hell hoped to God he wasn’t wrong, but Josie’s
grief was killing him.  He looked around the rest of the yard to see if anything else had changed.  The buckboard was missing, and the mare wasn’t in the corral, so that gave him some insight.  He was sure someone got out alive.

He turned just as she fell to her knees
sobbing.  He crouched next to her. He cupped her chin gently in his hand and tilted her face up toward him. “Josephine, if Ryker needed somewhere safe, where would he go?” he asked softly.

She shook her head.
Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“Sweetheart, I need you to stay calm and think about this.  The mare and wagon are gone.  Who would take them in
and not worry about Butch?”

She looked up at him, her eyes red and wet
and full of pain. Butch could have stolen that as soon as he slaughtered her family.   It felt as if there was no hope seeing the disaster before her. “I—I don’t know.  Maybe the Doc’s.”

“Then
, we’ll go there.”  He gripped her upper arms, lifted her up with him and held her tight while she wept.  Nothing could affect Josie.  She was tough. Tough enough to stand up to Butch when men wouldn’t even look him in the eye. Yet, when it came to family—losing someone she loved—would break her.  Butch had made a mistake.  Now Cogan was making this personal.

***

When Cogan rode into the yard of Doc Russell’s place later that morning, Hattie came bursting out of the doors, running toward them wailing with joy.  Josie slid off the horse and embraced the older woman tightly.  Ryker and Thomas came out of the house next.  Thomas raced forward and wrapped his arms around his sister’s waist.  They were all sobbing.  Well, except for Ryker, but you could see wild relief in his eyes.

Ryker shook Cogan’s hand
in appreciation before giving his sister a hug.  “We weren’t sure sis.”